Dear sir/madam,
BREIFING NOTE 2: POPULAR RALLY TO SAVE LAKE URMU (also spelt as Urmia)
Please find enclosed Briefing Note 2 concerning the arbitrary treatment of Southern Azerbaijani environmental campaigners by the Iranian authorities. The campaigners rallied together in many cities of Southern Azerbaijan on 2 April 2011, questioning the policies of the Iranian authorities on Lake Urmu, which is at its last stage of existence. A more detailed report was given on 15 May 2010, Ref 526/2010.
Southern Azerbaijan, dubbed by some European academics as the historic Garden of Eden, is now stricken by salt-dust storms subsequent to the desertification of the vanishing Lake Urmu. The people are alarmed by a looming catastrophe of biblical proportions. For the second year in running, Southern Azerbaijani environmental activists mobilized another popular rally on April the 2nd in many cities to demand action for the rectification of the Iranian policies (for more information, see http://urmugolu90.blogfa.com/). Instead, the Iranian authorities resorted to their iron-fist policies and failed to sympathize with the concerns of Southern Azerbaijanis. We would like to bring this sensitive issue to your attention.
The Briefing below is cascaded covering the impending environmental disaster of Lake Urmu within the context of the problem of Southern Azerbaijan, that within the racism in Iran and that within the context of turmoil in the Middle East. The emerging picture is that the mindset in Southern Azerbaijan is conditioned by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and therefore is quite unique in a region which is in turmoil and without any direction. Despite suffering from the Iranian racism and the onslaught of Iranian authorities, no one in Southern Azerbaijan is talking of martyrdom but the activists inflict attrition onto the Iranian authorities by singing the tune of Save Lake Urmu through democratic protests and further evidence is given in Tables 3, 4 and 5. Notably, the activists of Sayin Qala and Tikan Tepe, Southern Azerbaijani towns, are seen as strong flag-bearers.
We appeal to you to support the human rights of the victims who were arbitrarily detained by the Iranian authorities, where the victims were just exercising their rights to peaceful protests. We also remind you that Mr. Huseyn Nesiri is still in prison (who was arrested on 2 April 2010 when taking part in the first Save Lake Urmu campaign, see Ref 526/2010 Date: 15 May 2010) and urge you to campaign for his release too.
We thank you in advance for your attention and subsequent actions.
Yours faithfully,
Mr. Boyuk Resuloglu
The Committee for the Defence of the Rights of World Azerbaijanis